Mission: Protect The Real World
by Chelseam2
Summary: After Rita, a social outcast from the real world, unintentionally activates portals from the Naruto world that suck ninjas from there to hers, she finds herself in an overwhelming battle to save her own world from being overtaken and inevitable destroyed. Toss in some realistic romance, humor, action, and in-character characters, and what do you get? An epic adventure.
1. Chapter 1

Hello, all. I'm Chelseam2. (Aha...duh.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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I wanted to create a "into the real world" story that still kept the characters IN character. As well, that didn't have the people from the real world being love-obsessed unrealistic young teenagers picking the Naruto men out like apples with hardly any conflict, just throwing themselves onto them. There would be real emotions, doubt, and problems.

Y'know. Real. As this is the REAL world.

I couldn't find many, and as much as I just want to sit back and read one, I've decided to create my own since not many others will.

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A song you should check out:

"Icarus" Ivan Torrent f. Julie Elven

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Rita glanced an eye at her shamefully large collection of Naruto books, fingers slipping over the keys on her laptop as she typed. She quirked a sheepish grin. The manga was shorter than the filler-wracked anime, but the large series had long since become a long, mainstream running joke among anime fans. However, as much as seemed Naruto-fans were teased about their love, she kept buying the manga. She loved ninjas, the magic of chakra, and the surprisingly great psychology in Naruto.

Of course, she did have other loved-series. Among her collection was the Rurouni Kenshin, Bleach, Alice in the Land of Hearts, Black Butler, Case Closed, Death Note, DN Angel, Kasumi, I Am Here, Nabari no Ou, the entire series of Rosario Vampire, and many more.

But, all in all; to each their own.

Standing, she groaning as her tired muscles complained after a day of work, and stooped to pick up number 19 of the Naruto manga, the battle between the Three Legendary Sannin. She flipped through the pages, catching a glimpse of a bloodied Kabuto Yakushi laying on the ground and chuckling softly to herself, "Sorry, Kabuto. You may be my favorite character, but Naruto whooped your cocky butt."

"RITA!"

Rita winced, almost dropping the book in her hands. "Yeah, Mom?" she called back. As much as she loved her mother, the sound of that woman's voice shouting up the stairs at her to do something was one of the most annoying things on the planet, especially when that voice was waking her up.

"It's time to go to school! The bus'll be here in five minutes! You'd better be dressed and not messing around on that computer of yours!"

Rita blinked, blankly looking down at her ice-blue-tinted white pajamas, then up at the clock in front of her on the wall, terror darting across her face. "Shoot."

A blur of long, black hair, bright green eyes, pale skin, and a black hoodie and blue jeans was the only thing Rita's mom saw darting past her out the door not three minutes later, a thin arm snaking out to snatch up at backpack that hung over the chair. "Gotta run!"

Being a well-prepared woman, Mrs. Mugenjo had packed her daughter's breakfast in with her lunch. "No more lateness!" she shouted as the kitchen door to the outside slammed behind the running figure.

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Rita was happy that her house was among the first stops the bus picked up. She chose a window seat in the front of the bus, directly behind the driver. The back of the bus was dangerous, filled with roudy students that the school bus's driver could hardly reach. She preferred sitting by the driver. She and him had a bit of a weird friendship.

"So, whatcha got?" he asked excitedly, rubbing his hands together as the rest of the students from a nearby neighborhood filtered on the bus to take their seats.

"Eh, an apple..." Rita began digging through the breakfast bag.

"The perfect teacher sucking-up to device." he commented, receiving a smirk.

"Cereal bar. Yuck." Rita muttered, handing it off to the driver, who happily took it, "Dunno why she keeps getting me these."

"Doesn't she know you hate 'em?"

"Apparently not, but it's good news for you, ain't it?" Rita grinned, plucking out a cookie and handed it to him, "I only have two of these. You get one." she closed up her backpack, and the driver gave her a dainty little bow. Well, as dainty as one could get being a shapely elderly man stuck in a schoolbus's driver seat.

"Thank you, m'dear. You hold a special place in this here old man's heart." He told her, eyes sparkling.

"And in your stomach." she muttered, with a playful wink.

He gave the edge of her black hood a small tug, covering more of her already concealed face, smiling at the way her eyes deviously peered out from underneath the hood. "The way to a man's heart, you odd little thing."

"You love meh. You know you do."

"Yeah." he smacked a hand fondly on top of her head, and ruffled her hair under the hood. "Punk."

"Oi, knock it off! You might not have hair to comb, but I do!" she laughed and swatted his hands away as he let out a a chortle. "Drive the bus, old man!"

He rolled his eyes, snorting, and shut the bus doors with a hiss, and shouted, "Alrighty, folks! Onto prison we go!"

Half of the reactions he got were laughs, the other; sorrowful moans.

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Rita, a social outcast, was used to the treatment she got in the hallways, a shove into the lockers, the generic "knock-her-books-down-out-of-her-hands" whack, which she had learned to foil by placing a sheet of metal underneath wax-paper on top of her books whilst keeping a firm grip. Maybe that's why she liked Naruto; they had a connection. At least she wasn't small enough to actually be shoved IN her locker.

She'd always been an odd sort of girl, long black hair with bangs that partially covered one eye, another long lock of bangs striking down to her nose, and yet another off to the side reaching to her cheekbone, uneven. Her striking green eyes peered out from behind those bangs, solemn yet devious all at the same time. But her pale complexion, although tinged with a healthy glow, looked haunting to some.

She wore the same black hoodie every day, and pair of blue jeans. She wasn't dressing to impress anybody, and if she wanted friends, they'd be the type that would accept her for her, not her appearance. Possibly that thought is what hindered her from dressing in anything more.

Rita chose to sit in the corner, farther away. But it wasn't like she didn't have friends. She had Raika and Kyra, two of the most awesome, unique people she knew who always joined her and walked her between classes when they could.

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"This corn doesn't taste like corn." Raika mused, dragging her spoon though her food. She flipped bleached-white hair out of obsidian eyes and peered disapprovingly through her round-rimmed glasses at the corn.

Kyra leaned over and scooped up a spoonful of Raika's pathetic corn, pausing as the girl made a sound of protest, "What does it taste like?" and popped it into her mouth with a grin.

"Don't touch my food." Raika muttered crossly.

"I think it tastes like corn."

"And don't talk with your mouth full."

"Really weird, chemical corn, though." Kyra observed thoughtfully, chewing slowly.

"I'll bet it tastes stolen too." Raika sulked.

"Nope."

The white-haired girl's shoulder's slumped. "So much for a sense of morality."

"You weren't going to eat it anyway."

"Or decency." Raika sniffed.

Rita grinned, enjoying the dialogue between the two. Raika was upright, jaw-length, somewhat-spiky white hair jutting out in all directions yet still curving in to hug her cheeks. Kyra's black hair was exactly the same. Raika had been completely and entirely alone, an abused foster child, before she'd met Kyra in foster care. The two basically became like sisters, and were as close as any sister could get, despite the deceptively bitter tone Raika kept up with Kyra.

"Tell you what, Rai." Kyra laughed, stealing another spoonful of corn, flinching when Raika's eyes flashed to her plastic knife as Kyra was reaching her hand across Raika's personal bubble. "I'll buy you a new book as payment for being a bloody thief."

Raika jutted out her lower lip, "...fine."

Rita chuckled.

"How's life at home, Ree?" Kyra turned her attention to their friend, "Any plans?"

"World domination, y'know, the usual." Rita replied casually, resting her chin on her hands, elbows propped up on the table.

"We will prevail!" Kyra yelled, pumping her fist.

Raika quirked a small, dark grin. "Indeed." she said ominously. Her eyes darted to the other students, who'd noticed Kyra's outburst, "It's probably what they think we're up to anyway."

"Oh, but of course." Rita laughed. "Why not?"

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"Honey, did you have a good time at school?" her Mom asked, not bothering to turn around when she heard the front door slam.

"Twas dreadfully awful and mundane, save for the fleeting, yet glorious shining lights in the darkness that are the beautiful Raika and Kyra." Rita answered elegantly, flipping her wrist in the air for emphasis.

"I gave birth to a poet and didn't even know it." Mrs. Mugenjo muttered.

"My poor mother, a terrible fate of rhythm and English that had befallen her on the coming of my birth!"

Her mother turned, threatening with the knife, laughing, "Rita, if you don't stop, I will CUT you."

Rita threw up her arms in defense, "But alas, fate has turned to horror, that my dearest mother has turned upon a child of her own flesh with a silver blade!"

"I don't know whether to laugh to to bash my head against the wall until I bleed everywhere."

Rita grinned, "Before you do, is that my food you're cooking?"

"Yes."

"Then, please, just laugh. I'd prefer you didn't poison it with your crimson innards."

Her mother raised an eyebrow, "Is that right?"

Rita grinned sheepishly, clasping her hands innocently behind her back, "You know I love you, right Mom?"

Her mother turned back to the chopping board. "I'm poisoning your food."

"Ah~, I guess not."

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"Today was a bit crummy." Rita muttered, crossing her legs as she sat at her chair, "Man, I'd like to be a ninja. Then I could punch that stupid, snooty English teacher square in the face and sent her flying through a wall." She picked up the Naruto book, number 19, that she'd been reading before school. "Wouldn't it be cool...I kinda wish...I kinda wish the Naruto world existed. Then it would be-WHOA!"

Rita shot upright as her laptop started smoking, the screen cackling with what looked like... "THERE'S SPARKS COMING OUT OF THIS BLASTED THING!" she dove for the "Off" button, but upon contact, it zapped her, and she let out a yelp as her own overreaction sent her jerking backwards onto the ground, chair pushed out of the way. Rita suddenly regretted having gotten a chair on wheels. "Bloody heck, I'm going to start the house on fire!"

She hit the floor with an oomph as the screen began to cackle with electricity and flash. It took her a moment to realize the flashing didn't come from the laptop, but from her flickering bedroom lights. Terrified, she took the Naruto book and threw it at the screen it a futile attempt to stop the malfunction. It connected with a crack, the screen made a whirring noise, and the laptop was knocked from its place.

As it hit the ground, an explosion of white filled the room with blinding light, seeming to erase everything. A shudder of energy reverberated from the impact and passed through Rita's body like a burning chill. As it passed, Rita exhaled, eyes rolling up into her head, and white soon faded to black as her head hit the floor.

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Hey, y'all, I hope you enjoyed. If I made any grammar and spelling mistakes, please point them out so that I may correct them. I WANT you to point them out. XD


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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"Hey. Kid."

A voice pierced through the darkness that was currently Rita's consciousness. She scrunched up her face, and, not really awake, muttered with the flop of her arm, "Go 'way. It's Saturday, Mum. Lemme...lemme sleep." She snorted, and tried to turn over, wondering why her bed felt harder than usual. "Ow..."

A chuckle sounded, and through her cloudy thoughts, it suddenly registered that this amused laugh was NOT that of her mother's, or even a woman's. The next statement, laced with mockery, confirmed it, "I'm not your mother, brat."

Brat? Rita groaned and peeked an eye open. The light from the open window was burning her already sensitive eyes, and she squinted. Above her, there were too dark forms, blocking out some degree of the sunlight. "Wah?"

"Hurry it up, already." An angry, deep voice cut in, and another, much larger form entered her vision. Everyone was still a silhouetted blur, though. "The more this brat sleeps, the more time we have to wait."

Rita, suddenly terrified by the amount of strangers she realized were in her room, tried to sit up, but a large hand came down and fisted the front of her shirt before she could do so, quickly lifting her off the floor and into the air with surprising strength.

Her feet didn't even touch the carpet, and she blinked quickly, trying to regain the vision she lost, choking as her collar was drawn up around her throat. After a moment of kicking her feet, she gripped her attacker's huge wrist with her smaller hands, attempting to lift herself high to avoid being strangled by her own clothing. She rasped out with what little breath she could steal, "Hah-hey, s-STOP! Let.. go! What are you d-do-doing?!" At the moment, she didn't care to ask whoever it was that was grabbing her. It didn't matter. She couldn't BREATHE.

"Jirobo, set her down." A familiar voice chided, but Rita couldn't place it. "She's no good to us dead, now is she?"

Jirobo, her apparent attacker, grunted like a bear and slowly lowered her down. As soon as she felt his fingers loosen his grip, Rita ripped away, and slammed against her closet in an effort to escape. She still couldn't see anything but awkward shapes, and dazedly looked around her room at the foreigners within. There were more than three. Four? Five? Six? Her chest heaved, and she flattened herself against the dresser. "Hey! Who are you guys? What are you doing in my ROOM?!"

"What's wrong with her eyes?" A female voice questioned, ignoring Rita's cries. "They look all weird."

"Temporary partial blindness." Responded the voice that had scolded Jirobo. "Probably from over-exposure to light."

Rita recalled the bright flash and the burning afterward, swallowing the lump in her throat. She stayed silent.

"Can you fix them?"

"I can, if I subdue her. It's a delicate process."

Rita saw a shape move towards her, and let out an uncharacteristic scream, which was quickly silenced by a hand over her mouth. A muscular arm drew itself across her stomach, crossing over one arm to grip her opposite arm, effectively pinning her limbs to her sides as she was pulled back against a man's chest. She tried to wrench free, but was confronted with a strength as unyielding as stone.

"Don't let her do that again. I can hardly hold a genjutsu against the people of this place. The only chakra here to influence is the chakra of our auras If she lets out another one like that, the child's mother will be awoken from her trance." Now there was a unique voice Rita knew very well, but she couldn't quite believe it.

Was that...Orochimaru?! What the heck?! Wait...Mother...TRANCE?

Rita wriggled her shoulders, making muffled, angry noises behind her captor's hand. What was actually a demand as to what was being done to her mother, came out to be a quite comical bunch of noises. Her eyes were narrowed, fiercely glinting, smothered mouth making threats she probably couldn't carry out.

"Kid, if you don't want to be permanently blinded, I'd suggest you stay absolutely still." The voice of the man holding her sounded. He still sounded amused, as if her being blind forever was a light-hearted matter. "Close your eyes."

Now that she had one of the people in her room identified as Orochimaru, she could only guess this one was Kabuto. It sounded like him. Despite her fear and anger, she froze, feeling his hand leave her mouth and come back down over her eyes.

He readjusted his fingers, prepping himself, and his hand began to glow green with healing energy. "You're lucky it's only partial blindness. My chakra is limited here. "

Immediately, Rita felt a deep, cooling sensation wash over her head. Her headache was alleviated, and the burning in her eyes stopped. Although the atmosphere was tense, her shoulders relaxed, and she let out a small, shocked sigh of relief. Kabuto's grip relaxed as well.

The glow stopped, and he removed his hand, "There. You may open your eyes."

Rita slowly opened her eyes, and after a moment of blurriness, everything came into focus. She blinked once, then twice in surprise, tensing again. Kabuto's grip tightened in response.

Her wild assumption was correct. In front of her was indeed Orochimaru, with Jirobo and Tayuya off to the side. Kimimaru and Sakon/Ukon were standing silently, arms crossed, by her door like guards. If it hadn't been for Kabuto's legitimate healing of her seared eyes, she would have thought them to be weird cosplayers sent by her friends to play a joke on her.

But, the question was, why were they HERE?

Her mouth dropped open, but no words came out, and found herself fighting with a hundred questions at once, each one battling to spill out of her mouth. Instead, she stood there like an idiot, silent and stupid. Fortunately for her, she wasn't the only one with questions.

Unfortunately...

"Who are you, and why are we here?" Orochimaru questioned harshly, obviously annoyed.

She was wondering almost the same thing.

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Sorry for the short chapter, but yeah. XD Cliffhangerrrrr!(Not really. =.=)


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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"I...ah..I...what?" Rita stuttered. Shaking her head to clear it and pressing against Kabuto's restraining arm, she narrowed her eyes in frustration and exclaimed, "That's my line! What are you doing in my ROOM? Why are YOU in my room?!"

Slightly taken aback, Orochimaru regarded her angered expression with searching eyes. He slowly breathed out, and raised a finger to his chin, "You don't know?" More of a statement than a question, as her expression was gauged to be genuine.

She glared in response.

"From what we can tell, we were brought here from our world through a portal." Orochimaru mused, watching her face.

"Into my room?"

He shook his head, slowly, "No, somewhere nearby. However..." he tilted his head at her, "We were pulled here by an aura. Not physically, but drawn here by a sense. Towards that." He nodded towards a glowing sphere that had somehow gone unnoticed by Rita until now, hovering above her laptop. "It was almost like a beacon." A sour smirk lit his face.

Rita stared at the glowing ball of light, and then down at her laptop. It looked fine, no cracks, no electricity flying out of it. But where... Rita furrowed her brow in confusion. Where was the book she threw at it? And suddenly, it hit her. The book, her whimsical wish...was the perfectly round glowing orb of light. The shock that had come from it must have opened up portals and sucked Orochimaru and his posse through, and now they were drawn back towards the very thing that sent them here.

Kabuto felt her body relax in shock, and moved his hands to grip both her shoulders, holding her up.

With an exhale of breath, she whispered, "It's my fault..." Her eyes widened. This wasn't good. Oh no, oh nonononono.

Orochimaru eyed her sharply, smile falling. "What?"

She caught the danger in his voice, and faltered, but elaborated, "I...I don't know. I just...I was reading a...a...story...about you."

Another tilt of Orochimaru's head.

"I kinda...wished the story was real. Then, my computer started doing something weird, so I threw the story at it. My computer fell, there was a flash, a blinding one," she rolled her eyes, "I blacked out, and then I came to with you guys here." Her eyes darkened and she cast her gaze to the floor, muttering under her breath, "And Jirobo choking me..."

"Sorry." Jirobo muttered.

"No, you're not." Rita responded just as quietly.

"So, you brought us forth from...the past?" Kabuto questioned, trying to keep the smirk off his face.

Rita pursed her lips. "No...a story. You...you don't exist...in my world."

Orochimaru leaned back, intrigued. He thought for a moment, then chuckled, "Well, obviously we do, don't we? How fortunate that is for you, at least, that your wish has come true."

Rita wasn't so sure that was fortunate. When she wished the Naruto world was real, she hadn't intended for all the bad things to come with it. She meant more of her being a ninja, going there, having a blast and maybe sparring a bit with epic powers; not summoning the epitome of evil to her bedroom. As much as Kabuto was her favorite character, she knew he was bad news to meet for real, him being the sadistic, manipulative psycho scientist that he was. "Not really. This wasn't what I was thinking when I...made a dumb wish."

Orochimaru sneered. "Be careful what you wish for."

Rita glanced up at him, "Pretty sure you're not the only character I might have summoned here." She directed her gaze, pointedly, towards a poster on the wall. A poster showing every member of the Akatsuki, complete with Madara Uchiha.

And for a moment, she felt a slight moment of power, as she had been the one to cause the subtle look of fear that crossed over the Sannin's features when he realized exactly what she meant. If it weren't for the feeling of impending doom, she might have actually enjoyed the feeling.

"AHHHHHHHHHEEEEEIIII!" The quiet moment was shattered by the high pitched scream of a woman piercing from downstairs.

At this, Rita broke free of Kabuto's grasp, pivoting at her waist, and bringing her whole body to follow as she lurched for the open door, slipping past its guards, and grabbed for the guardrail as she flew down the stairs, only one thing on her mind.

"MOM!"

Orochimaru, not so eager to possibly confront the powerful organization he formerly belonged to, hesitated in following the frantic girl. Kabuto, however, caught up in the panic, had followed close behind her as she flew down the stairs at a rapid, reckless pace.

Rita skidded over the slippery, wooden floor, smashed into the wall, and pushed off of it, running down the hallway towards the kitchen, socks padding desperately against the floor. "MOM! MOM!"

Kabuto winced, a bad memory about his own "Mother" coming forth. Her panic was twisting in to his from years before. It was a weakness he resented daily.

Her hurry was abruptly stopped when an arm stretched across the doorway she was about to pass through and clotheslined her. And, for the second time in ten minutes, Rita found herself choking, and suffering from another major headache. Choking, because the arm had hit her throat, and a headache, from when her head hit the floor as she fell backwards.

Coughing and gagging, Rita clutched at her throat as Kabuto attempted to pull her up from behind, tugging at her shoulders. There was a thudding noise, and his hands left her, as an assailant sent him flying with a heavy blow into the wall with a plaster-breaking crack. "Kabut-hah!" She was whipped up from the floor and flung into the kitchen, and into the counter. "OW!" There was a flash a metal, and Rita felt the pointed tip of a blade pressing into her neck.

"Don't!" Kabuto yelled, flinging a hand out over the shoulder of an Akatsuki-cloaked member pinning him to the wall. "She's your only way back to your world!" He yelled, then froze, letting out a quiet gasp when he realized who had Rita, as the figure turned to look back at him. Pain. The entire Akatsuki was in her kitchen. Not good.

Pain glanced from Kabuto, who was being held still by Itachi, then back to the girl breathing heavily, upper back laying flat on the counter-top, black hair splayed out like an obsidian curtain around her head. "This child?"

Rita was too terrified to scowl or deliver a retort, and met Pain's gaze with wide eyes. Her arms shook, gripping the edge of the counter.

"She didn't mean to bring us here." Kabuto explained, breathless. "It was an accident. She didn't even know we existed." Finished, he exhaled through his nose, and leaned back against the wall, trying not to meet Itachi's gaze. Lucky for him, Itachi was more intent on watching the wall straight ahead. "Gonna let me go, Uchiha?" He asked indignantly, looking over the Sharingan user's shoulder.

"Hn."

'At least he's not rude and obnoxious like Sasuke.' Kabuto thought with a sigh, rolling his eyes as Itachi stepped back to give him space.

"What do you mean, an accident?" Pain questioned, keeping the blade at Rita's neck, but otherwise turning away. "How do you accidentally summon-."

"She got lucky, or, well, unlucky." Kabuto managed, "And accidentally set loose a number of portals that forcefully sucked people through, it appears. The device is like a beckon, and it lured us here."

Pain narrowed his eyes, "Us?"

Kabuto glanced to the side, and Itachi followed his gaze as Orochimaru stepped into sight. The already tense atmosphere thickened like pea soup. "Lord Orochimaru, I, and a few others...are here already."

Rita made a noise of discomfort as she tried to readjust herself on the counter, pulling herself up a little father away from the weapon held close to her already damaged neck. She hoped that maybe Pain would notice that she was still in limbo, but his attention was focused elsewhere, despite the entire problem being her fault.

"M'dear." Orochimaru chuckled, directing the comment at her, "You look uncomfortable."

Rita gave him a look of anger and helplessness, all in one, then turned to Pain, "Where's my mother?" she demanded.

He stared at her, "You mean the woman who's scream drew-."

"Yes, where's my MOTHER?" Rita's voice rose. "If you killed her, so help me-."

"Your mother is fine." Itachi interrupted. "We had to keep her confined." he nodded towards the pantry. "And restrain her."

'They locked my mother in the pantry.' Rita thought.

Itachi met her gaze, "It was better than what Deidara wanted to do."

Rita fell silent. That was true. She'd rather her mother locked up and alive, than exploded into what Deidara called "art".

"This is going to be fun." Kisame started sarcastically. "I wonder how many more are going to show up?" He looked to Itachi, "Hey, does that mean your brother's gonna show up, Itachi?"

Itachi's eyes widened, but only slightly, before he closed them and raised a hand to rub his temple, as if fending off an oncoming headache.

"Oh joy." Rita muttered, as Pain removed his weapon from her person, and let her clamber off the counter. "Mr. Sunshine is coming. Let's put him next to Mr. Talkative, see what happens." Rita peered at Itachi, "If you destroy my house-."

"I can assure you, it will not come to that." Itachi promised.

Rita sighed. "Can you at LEAST let my mother out of the pantry?"

"Why?" Deidara laughed, "It's the only other place a woman belongs in, besides the kitchen."

The only sound that came after was the sound of Konan smacking the artistic blond upside the head in response and snapping. "NOT funny."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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It was an uncomfortable silence, Rita's Mom paced nervously in the kitchen, warily eyeing the strangers standing around her house. Itachi had taken it upon himself to stay in the kitchen with her, as he didn't trust a great number of the people currently in the house around her. Plus, Sasuke had arrived, and after a bout of struggling against Kakashi and Asuma to get to his older brother, was sulking and swearing in the corner of the Living Room, where Rita now sat, in the middle of the couch, next to Kabuto.

Tayuya had discovered one of Rita's old gameboys, and was currently trying to beat a game that was still inside. She stared at the screen, whispering murderous things at it as she played. She tried her best to keep quiet, after one outburst had left her with a sore shoulder when Kimimaru elbowed her for being too loud.

At the moment, everyone was eyeing each other, the looks in their eyes daring each other to move, to strike, to even -breathe-. All in all, it was awkward.

Orochimaru was standing behind the couch, pretending to take interest in Rita's family photos, Kabuto sat tensely at Rita's side, keeping an eye on Sasori, who was staring at the wall next to the other Akatsuki members who grouped together, motionless. Most of them were silent, however Hidan and Kakuzu were arguing like children, Kakuzu being the more mature and less-vulgar one of the two, and Kisame was laughing at them, making witty side comments that made it all worse. Deidara had tried to explain his art to Rita's Mom, but was glared off by Itachi, and was now sulking by Sasuke in the corner of the Living Room, since Sasuke was the only one in the entire house who really cared to hear his complaints about how stupid Itachi was.

Naruto was occupied with instant-ramen that Rita had found for him, and Sakura was attempting to flirt with Sasuke, who ignored her completely. Deidara, however, was a little ticked at Sasuke for receiving the attention. What was it with Uchihas and women? He didn't get it.

Hinata, Kiba, and Shino were in the pantry, talking over plans and muttering things about the people they had to be stuck with. Hinata, however, kept peeking out at Naruto with a blush on her face. Shikamaru was resting at the table, next to Naruto, not really caring about such a "troublesome mess".

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What Rita soon realized was that it really was a jumbled mess. Yes, many of the Naruto characters were here, but not all of them. For example, Ino and Choji weren't sucked in with the rest of their team, Shikamaru and Asuma. Kidomaru, from the Sound 5, wasn't with Orochimaru, so temporarily they were the Sound 4 (again). Gaara (who was in the backyard) and Temari were here, but not Kankuro.

As well, it seems there were people there from Shippuden. For example, Killer Bee was in her Mom's office, looking through her poetry books, and critiquing them. Jiraiya and Tsunade were there, but so was the Third Hokage, who should've been dead if Tsunade was taking part. Even Orochimaru asked a haughty, "Didn't I KILL you?" to which Rita outright told him to "Shut it, snake-face." because she'd been incredibly disheartened when the Hokage had died. Her response had brought applause from nearly everyone, and a miffed Orochimaru crossed his arms, and took to lingering in the shadows, pride hurt.

As far as she could tell, most of the kids from Konaha, like Naruto, Sasuke, and such, were all pre-Shippuden.

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But the ~fun~ didn't stop there.

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"I'm glad all of this ruckus happened so early in the morning." Rita muttered, stuffing things into her backpack. "You have to be kidding me."

Kabuto stood over her, silently observing. His eyes followed her hands as she slipped books in the back, "Science? I didn't know they taught that in the academy. Are you a medic ninja?"

Rita paused, and glanced back over her shoulder at him, "Ahh, no." She forgot how different their worlds were. They weren't just characters anymore, or ever. "We're not ninjas, none of us are. Fighting is kind of taboo, y'know. Sure, we have some martial arts, but those are defensive forms, and such. If you fight in school, you're not seen as such a good person. You're seen as a punk, a bully, or a problem student. You can get in big trouble."

"Big trouble?"

"Well, if you punched someone, and left a mark, you could go to jail for assault and battery." Rita explained, zipping up the backpack, stood, and turned to face the medic ninja. She didn't trust him, but his curiosity was sincere.

"For punching someone?" He wrinkled his nose.

"Yeah." she replied simply. He was almost amazed by how casually she spoke, like it was normal. Well, it was. This was their culture.

"So, if you don't fight, what DO you learn?"

"We learn things like science, English, history, math... Stuff like that." Rita stepped around him and dug through the kitchen cupboards for food, since her mother was too terrified to think with all the strange people around. Rita tried to explain what had happened, but it didn't seem to make sense to the woman, so her daughter took control of the situation.

"The pursuit of knowledge." Orochimaru suggested, leaning against the doorframe. Itachi, from his place leaning against the sink, kept a silent, wary eye on him.

She paused, considered that, then continued, nodding. "Yeah, guess so, so I can get a job when I'm older." she turned to look at Itachi, "Keep an eye on everyone?" She asked.

Itachi gave a small nod.

"Where are you going?!" Tayuya yelled, as Rita marched out the door.

"SCHOOL!"

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.

.

School went by normally, but Rita was on guard, jittery. She wanted to stay home and look after her mother, as she basically stuck her in a house full of powerful Naruto characters who could probably take her out for good with a solid punch to the face. She kept thinking of her mother, but the thought that the secretly good-natured Itachi Uchiha was standing by calmed her a bit. She suspected he knew that she knew about him.

Rita had made sure to take all her Naruto books with her, and they were hidden, stuffed inside a duffel bag in the trunk of her car. The seventeen year old didn't want any of them spoiling their own futures. It was worse enough when someone spoiled the book itself, but someone's life?

Tapping her pencil on her desk, listening to the history teacher, Mrs. Ramar talk, yet not really comprehending any of the words as her mind was elsewhere, Rita winced out an apology when the teacher motioned for her to stop the noise, and the other students giggled.

"Rita, since you seem so bored..."

Oh dear.

"How many names are signed on Declaration of Independence?" the teacher asked, folding her arms across her chest. She was dressed stiffly today, garbed in a pin-striped navy-blue suit with a pink blouse underneath. In her left hand she held a stick she used for pointing on the board, as she was rather short. She peered out of the glasses perched on the end of her nose.

Why did adults do that? Was there something continuously wrong with her prescription, did she need bifocals, did her glasses not ever fit right, or did she just like sporting the strict librarian look?

"What?" Rita asked, blinking. Her mind was wandering everywhere today.

"How MANY names are SIGNED on the Declaration of Independence?" She repeated, a disapproving stare marring her wrinkled face. She had lots of frown lines. It was no wonder, most of the kids were a stunning disa-there she went again.

"Ah, eh..." Rita closed her eyes, recalled, then snapped them open, "56!"

Mrs. Ramar's disapproving look faded into a bright smile, "Very good, Rita. Thank you." And she turned back towards the board, white heels clicking across the floor as she walked back towards the front of the room.

Rita breathed a sigh of relief, and got a gentle elbow of approval from a nearby student. The move was friendly, and as she was out of it, Rita didn't remember she hated people touching her, and quirked a small grin at the boy.

He smirked back, then looked towards the front. It didn't matter who you were, if you managed to answer a teacher's question right when purposely caught off guard, you were momentarily regarded as a hero.

'Yeah, I know my history.' Rita thought, chuckling inwardly. 'Victory!'

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Walking down the hall, Rita stopped at her locker, opening it and setting her lunchbox inside. She froze when she heard someone's hand slam into the locker beside her head. She whirled around, finding herself trapped between her locker and Vanessa, a rather nasty-acting curly brown-haired girl that always had her groupies following her around to back her up.

She tilted her head at Rita, who scowled at the close proximity to another person she was forced into. Vanessa's springy ringlets bounced with every move of her head. "Hey, freak."

Rita had a couple names as well for this girl, but decided staying quiet was the best choice. Because of the school's zero-tolerance policy, she would get in trouble along with Vanessa for getting into a fight, regardless of who started it or who was defending themselves. What the policy did do was give bullies more power, and kept the victims from defending themselves for fear of getting into trouble as well.

"See?" Vanessa looked back at Jess and Vickie, "She doesn't deny it."

Rita glared, the hands that were flattened against the lockers behind her curling into claws, "Don't mistake my silence for acceptance." she responded in a low voice. "Leave me alone."

"Leave me alooone!" Vanessa mocked her, making an awful attempt at imitating Rita's voice, raising her tone a few pitches.

Rita sighed and looked away. The tone of her voice was lower and deeper than Vanessa's, so why did Vanessa think it would make sense to higher her tone?

"You don't have Kyra here with you now to save you, do ya?" Vanessa laughed, rubbing her sore shoulder from where Kyra had socked her days before. Kyra had a habit of jumping into a fight with her fists swinging. "You won't hit me. You never do." she patted Rita's cheek.

Rita glared at Vanessa from the corners of her eyes, face still turned away. It almost sounded like a challenge.

"What? Too scared to get in trouble?" Vanessa asked haughtily, stepping back and spread her arms out to her sides as if to say, "Come at me". She sneered, "Everyone knows they'll just blame you anyway. It's always those dark, weird quiet kids who comes in and shoots up the school. Everyone thinks you're gonna be the next psychopath."

Rita hunched her shoulders, still leaned back against the wall, unfazed, saying nothing. She let her dark, defiant scowl would speak for her.

"It's always the kids with only one parent too, isn't it?" Vanessa continued, arms still out.

Her scowl became fierce, eyes blazing, and she balled her fingers into fists, letting out a shaky breath. 'Don't you dare go there'. She thought.

"Your mom can probably hardly handle you after your dad just ran off without you." Vanessa went on, looking over to Jess and Vickie for support. They giggled, and fueled her attack, "I read the article in the newspaper. Four years it's been since he's gone "Missing"." She laughed, "I'll bet he just couldn't bear living with you guys anymore. He had a weird, adopted freak of a kid and an ugly whore to deal with."

"Shut up!" Rita shouted, squeezing her eyes shut as both her heartbeat and her voice rose. Her fingernails were digging into the palms of her hand, and she could feel something warm and thick pooling under her fingernails. She shook with rage.

"Bet he's moved on with another, better family." Vanessa taunted, "That's what my mom did, just up and left. Poof."

"I said, shut UP!"

"I'll bet he didn't even LOVE you." came the finishing, final line from her tormentor. There could have been more to it, but Rita would never know, because she made sure it was the final line in that conversation.

"Freaking, SHUT UP!" Rita flew forward, a blur of rage, pulling her fist back as she lunged, then sent it flying into Vanessa's smug, sneering face. She heard the crunch of cartilage under her clenched fingers as knuckles connected with nose.

Vanessa went down on her back with a choked yelp, Rita coming down on top of her, straddling the other teen's stomach, and sending another punch Vanessa's way, slamming the side of the girl's face into the concrete floor of the hallway. She felt the teeth from Vanessa's agape mouth slice her knuckles, but was so blinded by rage that didn't care. Rita gripped Vanessa's collar with her fist to hold her still as the other girl's hands tore and beat at her face and neck in desperation.

This wasn't a tooth and nail chick-fight, this was a complete beatdown.

"DON'T."

THUD.

"TALK."

THUD.

"ABOUT."

THUD.

"MY FATHER."

THUD.

"THAT WAY!" Rita would have gotten another punch in had it not been for Jess and Vickie, who came screaming and shrieking to Vanessa's aid, grabbing each of Rita's arms and hauling her off. Rita turned her anger on them, flailing her arms and knocking them both to the floor, one after the other, using her pointy elbows as battering rams. She turned back to Vanessa, but was stopped by another, stronger person from behind.

She knew who it was, but still flailed against the person's firm grip as she was lifted up and off Vanessa, hoping to get one last piece of her before the inevitable.

Vanessa stumbled to her feet, face bleeding profusely, and pointed to Rita as she reeled in the wall, leaning on it for support, "She's an animal!"

Rita snarled, lunging against the Principal's grip. "Let me go!"

"An animal! That freak is an animal! Get her away from me!" Vanessa shrieked. Jess and Vickie started yelling things as well, further adding to the chaos. "She's crazy, crazy!"

"SILENCE." the Principal's voice boomed, and everyone froze.

Rita locked fiery eyes with Vanessa's wild, terrified ones, blood dripping down her face dripping from the places she'd been scratched. Her breaths came out heavy and angry.

"Both of you, this is MADNESS. Look at you! What would your parents say?! FIGHTING?!" He looked back and forth between the two girls. This was no little spat. "You two were going for blood! I can hardly recognize you both!"

Rita scoffed and turned her head to wipe blood from her lips when she caught sight of herself in the mirror hanging above a small vase on a table. He was speaking truth. Vanessa had done a number on her face. She'd been so busy beating that snob into the ground that she hadn't felt Vanessa's own defense. Blood dripped from deep gashes on her face, probably from Vanessa's long nails, and dark bruises already were appearing from the girl's flailing fists.

Vanessa looked battered, her nose clearly broken, but not as bloody at her opponent. Rita hadn't used her nails, just blunt force.

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Principal Mark was at an impasse. He hadn't seen how the fight began, but he certainly knew who came out on top. However, Rita looked far worse for wear than Vanessa did, but that was probably because of the different methods used in the fight. Despite Rita's dark, distant visage, he knew she wasn't normally violent or cruel. Whatever had sparked this had been something bad. He'd often seen her take hits before and shrug them off without retaliating. 'I'm going to get in trouble for this.' He muttered in his head, "It's a truce!"

Both girls looked at him in shock.

"Whatever went down, I declare it settled! Judging by how the both of you look, I don't even know if I WANT to punish you." He bit his lip, gauging their confused expressions. "I will send a letter home to your parents, and let them deal with you accordingly. You both have two weeks of detention here, and have to stay after class two hours a day with Mrs. Brunesmoren and attend her anger-management class."

Both girls were silent. The punishment for fighting was normally much worse.

"Violence solves NOTHING." the Principal finished harshly, releasing Rita, who shook of the feel of his grip in a huff, casting her face to the floor. Her lower lip quivered and her shoulders shook. "I hope one day you both will realize that in order to get respect, you need to give it. You're too old to be fighting and insulting each other. You're better than that!"

Rita stayed silent for a moment before muttering, "You're wrong, Vanessa. My father loved me. He'll come back." She grit her teeth, "He'll come back!" she exclaimed before rushing past the Princpal and out the front door of the school. She didn't want to wait till the end of school, and she flew over the ground, sprinting home, wiping blood out of her eyes while she ran, crying for the first time in three years, something she'd sworn she'd never do again.

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Itachi could sense and Rita before she even stepped foot on the driveway. He also smelled blood, and he quickly rose from the kitchen chair he was sitting in and quietly made his way towards the door.

Mrs. Mugenjo, who'd found him to be a safe comfort in the time Rita was at school, stood quickly, "Is something wrong, Itachi?"

He narrowed his eyes, taking a step back when the door was flung open, and Rita charged into him, nearly bowling him over. "Rita?"

Stumbling back, Rita looked up at Itachi's visibly surprised face, closed her eyes, and shoved him to the side, "Leave me alone!" and lifted an arm to cover her bloodied face as she charged up the stairs to her room, the only place the Naruto characters now weren't. She collapsed onto her bed, drowning herself in her covers, and screamed into the bedsheets.

Mrs. Mugenjo saw the blood, and attempted to follow, but Itachi stopped her with an outstretched arm. She looked at him, eyes wild, "But Rita-."

"Give her a moment." Itachi advised. "Let her calm."

"What's wrong?" Naruto rushed into the hallway. "Is Rita ok?" Hinata and the other Konaha genins followed close behind. Itachi shooed them all away into the living room, taking Rita's mother by the elbow back in the kitchen, stoically threatening to Sharingan the kids if they attempted making contact with Rita.

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Rita screamed until her scream died out and her throat was ragged. Had it not been for the thickness of the black comforter, the sound would have made it beyond her doorway. As her rapid breathing subsided, her frame began to shake with quiet sobs. She'd always been crying after her father disappeared, and the day she decided she wouldn't cry about it again, waiting for the day he'd come back. Though, deep in the back of her mind, she knew he wouldn't. Rita doubted that he was even still alive.

And if the vicious fight hadn't proven it to be a sore topic to touch upon before, she didn't know what would.

* * *

Yup...Soon there will be more involvement with the Naruto characters, but I just wanted to let you know who Rita was.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Rita didn't know when she fell asleep, but when she awoke, throat scratchy, there was a soothing hand rubbing her back. She didn't open her eyes, but rasped, "That had better be you, Mom. Otherwise someone's gonna get dead."

"It's me, honey." Came a worried whisper. "You alright?"

Rita ignored the question, "How long was I asleep?"

"Just a few hours. Rita, hun, can you turn over?"

"No."

"Rita." Her mother's voice held a warning tone. "I was using the question context to be nice." Her hand stopped its circular motion over her shoulder blades, "Turn over. Let me see."

Rita sighed, irritated, and rose up on her elbows, face still downcast.

Her mother winced, noting the dried blood on the pillow case. "What did you do?" She guided her daughter to turn around, and gasped, "Rita! What happened to you?!"

Rita licked her split bottom lip, looking everywhere but her mother's face, "A fight."

Her mother's eyebrows rose high, "You never fight."

Rita laughed nervously, "Ah...surprise?"

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.

"She was talking smack about Dad..." Rita murmured, hands clasped in her lap as she sat Indian -style on her bed, Mrs. Mugenjo washing her face with a damp cloth, "Or rather, smack about how he felt about us."

Her mother sighed, "And so you hit her."

"Repeatedly." Rita confirmed. "Ow."

Her mother withdrew the cloth, 'tsk'ing at the blood that stained it. "And she hit you back."

"Twice, one in the eye and one in my mouth. The rest are scratches. She fights like a girl." she winced as her mother's administrations brushed over an open wound, "Ow!"

"And if that's true, then you fight like a man." That earned a smirk from her daughter, "Stop squirming, Rita!"

"Ow! I would if you would just stop pulling my face apart." Rita retorted, pushing her Mom's hands away, "I'm fine! Consider them my battle scars."

"I refuse to have you look like an injured war hero when all you did is lose your temper and pummel a fellow student."

"She deserved it,"

"-Without even being sorry about it."

"Nope. Not at all."

"Acchhh, you're impossible."

"Your face is impossible." Rita countered, grinning. She was met with an 'oh really, is that how you wanna play it?" stare, and the two of them eyed each other with narrowed eyes and wily grins. She picked up the cloth and started cleaning off her own face, Mother watching her fondly, catching little peeks of her daughter's devious stare when the cloth wasn't covering her eyes. Rita continued to wash her face until she sighed, letting her hands drop back into her lap, fiddling with the now-dirty cloth in her hands. "Do you think..."

"Hm?"

"Do you think Dad will come back? Maybe he..." Rita struggled with this, "He...could've just..."

Her Mom let out a deep, shuddering sigh, "C'mere. Into my lap, c'mere."

Rita made a face, but otherwise complied, laying with her back on the bed, head in her Mom's lap, staring up at her mother's grim face, brow furrowed with countless thoughts.

Her Mom took to cradling Rita's face in her hands, smoothing her little girl's hair over, tucking strands behind her ears, and gently running over the cuts and the bruises. "Rita..."

"He's dead, isn't he?"

Her Mom pursed her lips, "I can't say that for certain, but... Ree, when a woman disappears, it's normally a kidnap. Some of them are even rescued years later. Bu when a man disappears..." She lifted her hand, swiping blond hair out of cerulean blue eyes, tucking the strands that didn't get caught in her pony-tail behind her ears. "It's usually death."

"Vanessa said that he ran off with another family."

"If that were true, then why did he leave everything? Your father went out for his morning jog, just as he always did, and left his wallet, his money and even his own father's watch behind."

Rita closed her eyes, "Is it bad...that I feel better that he's probably dead, rather than alive with another family?"

Her Mom chuckled sadly, "It certainly hurts less, doesn't it?"

"Yeah."

Her mother stared down at Rita, who was now relaxed, and leaned down to kiss her on the forehead. "Promise me no more fights like this. This is the first time, and I want it to be the last."

A hesitant sigh, "Yeah...I promise."

"Good."

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.

Rita's Mom had stayed there for a while with her daughter, just being quiet and soothing her. As she exited the room, she caught sight of Itachi, standing silently next to the door outside of Rita's room. She blinked in surprise. "Itachi?"

"Her father is dead?" He questioned quietly, still staring at the wall straight ahead. He'd heard everything.

She glanced at him, speechless for a moment, "Most likely. It's been four years since he disappeared." She replied.

"How did Rita fare afterwards?"

"She cried at first, but then one day she just stopped. She became withdrawn, quiet, angry, dark... She used to be so bad, so angry, but we had a moment where Rita realized what she was doing was hurting me. The fights we used to have... I felt like I was losing my daughter too, and not just my husband, and that terrified me. And she realized she was losing me too."

"I see."

She watched the man, observing his young, serious face, "Itachi."

His eyes flickered to hers.

"Rita tells me you're not what you make yourself out to be." She gave him a small smile, "I know a little about you. There's good in you."

He blinked.

"Your secret's safe with us; don't worry." The woman laughed quietly, brushing more hair away.

A tiny smile etched his features, "I'm not, Helen." He gave her a little nod, and left his place at the door to return downstairs, Rita's mom close behind him.

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"What happened to your FACE?" Naruto yelled, as soon as he saw Rita enter the living room. He jumped up and ran over to her. "Somebody attacked you!"

Rita pursed her lips and averted her gaze, now aware of what seemed like a multitude of stares on her, "Not...technically." She muttered.

He blinked, trying to figure it out, "Was there an accident?"

"No accident could leave someone looking like that." Kabuto chided from the couch, looking up from a book he'd found on the shelf; A Tale of Two Cities. He too, though, looked confused.

"Holy heck it's hot out there." Tayuya exclaimed, shutting the backyard patio door that led into the living room. She turned to look at Rita, then did a double take, " $%!, what happened to your FACE!"

"I see most of you haven't mastered the art of tact." Jiraiya sniffed, flipping through a magazine he'd bought from the drug store next door. "Never make a negative remark about a woman's looks!"

"It's fine." Rita shrugged, "I just got into a fight."

Kabuto rose an eyebrow, "You just told me-."

"The Principal stopped it and called truce. We were both pretty messed up, and we both got in trouble. End of story." She stuck out her upper lip, defiant, and hunched her shoulders.

"The Principal?"

"The 'leader' of our school." She explained, shrugging again.

"Why'd you fight?" Sakura questioned, probing into the matter that most of the ninjas in the room could see Rita didn't necessarily want re-opened.

"She was...saying things...about my Dad."

"Why?"

"He disappeared." Rita said, looking to a family photo that was taken only a few weeks before he vanished from her life. She trained her eyes on his, in her opinion, handsome face. Spiky blond hair, bright blue eyes and a strong, square jaw. He was built like a lumberjack. She still remembered how strong he was, swinging her up in the air to great heights.

"Then let's look for him!" Naruto yelled excitedly, tugging on her sleeve.

Rita had to laugh at that, and poked his nose, making the young ninja go cross-eyed. "...four years ago."

Naruto's smile fell with the hanging of his head, "Oh."

"It's fine. You didn't know." She grinned at him, "But I'm flattered at your chivalry, Naruto, and I thank you."

He gave her a big, stupid smile, beaming at the praise.

"Rita." Orochimaru began, having caught sight of the picture as well, "I noticed that both your parents have blue eyes." He noted, gesturing to the picture with the movement of his head, "As I recall..."

Rita blinked.

"It is uncommon for two blue-eyed people to give birth to someone with green eyes." His amber eyes met her emerald ones. He wasn't trying to be mean, she could tell by his expression.

"Oh." Rita grinned, "Yeah, you got me. I'm adopted."

"It doesn't seem to bother you?" Now -there- was that mocking tone again. This man seemed to take pride in prying into people's pasts, then picking apart their bravado—regardless of being friend or foe.

"No. In a way, you could say I was chosen by my parents. I feel wanted."

"Because somebody else didn't want you."

Rita bit her lip, and both Jiraiya and Tsunade gave Orochimaru the stink eye, warning him with their expressions that he was going way too far. She let out a small exhale, rolling her eyes, and set her hands at her lips, "Well, I'm glad. It wouldn't be fair to me to be stuck with someone who wasn't ready or able to be a mother. I'd rather live with someone else who is. I'm happy to be here, whatever the reason." She cocked her head at him, eyes narrowing despite the hard smile still on her face, "Besides. It wasn't my fault."

Her eyes were hard, decided, and he gave a silent nod of approval, settling back into the armchair next to the couch.

With a sigh of relief, Rita turned to Jiraiya, "Where'd everyone else go?"

"They're scoping out the neighborhood." He replied, "Kiba went downtown, did some tricks with his dogs, and got most of them enough money to buy some street clothes. There's a lovely second-hand shop not far from here."

"Goodwill?"

"That's the place!" He chuckled, "They were getting some weird looks. I told them to lie low for the time being; ninja stuff is strictly prohibited right now."

"Good. I don't want to bring government scientists here."

Kabuto was immediately intrigued, "Why would they come here?" In most villages in his world, the only science that was allowed was for medicinal reasons. Human experimentation was completely out of the question.

"To figure out what makes you guys tick; what makes you different." Rita said, walking to the glass patio doors and staring out. "If you guys doing anything superhuman, they're gonna wanna figure out how. So, please don't do anything weird."

"Human experimentation is legal here?"

"No, it's illegal. I mean, for medicine they do have test subjects, but those are volunteers. Dissecting people is very illegal, but..."

"...'But'?" Kabuto probed.

"There's always the fear that they'll do it anyway, and cover it up. They're the government. There's a lot of corrupt people in there who might do such a thing. We always have these movies about the government kidnapping aliens or "superhumans" and experimenting on them in secret. It doesn't help that none of the people transported here have citizenship. You guys are basically illegal aliens."

"Aliens?" Tayuya laughed, "We didn't come from the stars."

"Not that kind of alien. An alien, here, just refers to someone who wasn't born in our country or doesn't have the legal rights to be here, whether you get a card, asylum or citizenship." Rita told her, "They want to keep track of who's in this country, and they want the people here to pay taxes like everyone else so that the economy won't crash. You can't get taxes from someone who technically doesn't exist. And if the alien gets a job here, it takes a job away from a person who does pay taxes and such. It's not fair to the rest of us, and it's bad for the economy."

"I see." Pain mused. "Rita. Your leader...?"

"The President of the United States." Rita clarified.

"He isn't a king or a kage. This isn't a monarchy, is it?"

"No, sir. This is a republic turned democracy." She said, nodding at him.

"It appears to be very effective."

Rita grinned, then rolled her eyes, "Yeah, well, most of the time. It was a bit better back then, before all the money-grabbing and the corruption."

Ah."

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"Man, the ice-cream here is way better than the stuff at home!" Kiba exclaimed, taking a huge lick, "You want some, Akamaru?"

Akamaru barked happily, tucked inside Kiba's shirt with his head poked out of the boy's collar, and chomped a big bite, shivering at how cold it was, and whimpered.

"You gotta slow down. You'll get brain freeze, silly." He laughed, patting his dog's head. He turned to Shino, who was slowly licking his own ice-cream, "This place is pretty cool, huh. It's so clean and organized."

"It is indeed." Shino eyed the grassy areas, stuck in their small, rectangular squares at the side of the street, a single tree growing per square. It was all so...controlled.

"Those carriages are pretty cool too. They move all by themselves, without horses or anything." Kiba continued observantly, eyeing the cars, "They go pretty fast too. I guess that's why we have to stay on this thing." He looked down at the pale-gray path below him. "The 'sidewalk'." He looked up, "What do you think, Hinata?"

"Oh, what?" Hinata asked, surprised. She'd been distracted, looking around as well, "I..I think it's all very nice. But I kinda like how it was back at Rita's house, with the plants growing more freely all around. This part of her village is very different." She smiled up at the sky, feeling the sun, "It's still pretty though."

"Yeah, it's pretty awesome." Kiba agreed. From Goodwill, they'd gotten a bit of a clothings change. He still had his normal, great jacket with the fuzzy hood, but his stretchy pants had been replaced by stiffer pants called jeans.

Shino had bought black jeans, and had taken off his jacket to reveal the generic ninja shirt underneath. A dark-gray, short-sleeved top with a lower-cut head opening, the v of the neck chopped in half by a mesh like fabric. His jacket now hung over his arm.

Hinata hadn't bothered to change her clothes since they looked normal enough. Neither had Sasuke. However, they had removed their ninja pouches and medical-tape.

Sasuke stayed quiet, hands stuffed into his pockets. He was glad to be out of the crowded house and away from both his brother and Naruto. What annoyed him the most, though, was how Helen, Rita's Mom, seemed to enjoy his brother's presence in the home.

"Hey, Sasuke, do you like the outfit I picked out?" gushed Sakura. She made a cute face, sticking her tongue out and striking a small pose, showing off the tight, red-t-shirt she'd gotten and her just as tight pale-blue skinny jeans. "What do you think?"

"They're clothes." he immediately responded, ignoring her. He could care less what she was wearing.

"I wonder why Temari didn't join us." Sakura wondered aloud, "I got her a nice outfit from the sizes she gave me, but why didn't she come out herself?"

"Probably because of Gaara." Sasuke mused, "She didn't want to leave him alone in the house with all those people."

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Gaara had taken to the backyard, sitting alone next to a lilac bush by a tall oak tree. Numerous types of flowers, herbs, and other plants had been planted in random places about him, like some sort of disorganized garden. He rested his chin on his knees, drawing his legs up to his chest. This world felt much safer to him. There wasn't a war, and besides the ninja he came with, no one of notable strength existed to fear. Everyone was conserving what chakra they had, because they could not replenish here, so attacking each other was pointless, reckless and out of the question. He sighed, actually happy.

Shukaku, his inner demon, had been stifled as well by this world. Last night Gaara had slept for the first time in his life, and not a peep or a disturbing image came from the beast within. Rested and stable for once in his life, he smiled, hiding his face in his knees, completely at peace. "I don't ever want to leave."

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"I have NEVER seen Gaara that happy looking." Temari murmured, watching him from the patio door.

"Come again?" Tsunade asked, stepping up beside her.

"Look at him! He's just sitting out there in the garden, all happy looking." she exclaimed, then quieted, "I've never seen him smile like that. It was always some bloodthirsty grin, but never...that."

"He's safe." Tsunade said. "This world has smothered his demon."

"Why?"

"I don't know." Tsunade remarked curiously. "Well, it's good, regardless of how it's happening." She concluded, giving Temari a pat on the back. "This time of rest will do him a world of good."

"This -world- is doing him a world of good." Temari chuckled, rubbing her shoulder.

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"Itachi, can you grab the paper plates from the cupboard—ah, thank you, deary!" Helen had sent Konan, Deidara and Itachi to work in the kitchen.

"Where do you want these?" Itachi asked the woman, using one of his black nails to slice through the plastic covering that kept the plates together.

"I put some tables together down in the basement. Could you set the—hey, where'd he go?"

Konan grinned, "To set the table. He's rather quick about what he does."

"I noticed, ah!" Helen put her hands on her hips, grinning at Deidara, "Deidara, stop forming the batter into art and stir the bowl. I need that all smoothed out so that the cookies turn out ok." she scolded lightheartedly, as one would reprimand a naughty child.

"Look at my art!" Deidara replied, holding out a bird made of batter. "None can compare!"

Helen rolled her eyes, laughing helplessly, "Deidara, stir the bowl. If you want to create art, I'll get you some play-dough. Otherwise, stop playing with the food."

"Play-dough?" He questioned, turning to look at her.

"Stir the batter, Deidara." Konan ordered.

"Fine." He dumped his bird into the bowl, and stared at it a moment, then grinned, "Art is a bang!" and slammed the spoon into the bird, destroying it. He began to rapidly stir the batter at an impressive pace, laughing like a little kid, gripping the bowl tightly so it wouldn't fly out of his hands.

Helen quirked an eyebrow at him, and she and Konan shared an eye-roll. "Is he always like this?" she mouthed.

Konan pursed her lips and nodded. They giggled. "Thank you for letting me have one of your dresses, Helen." she said after she finished laughing. "I love it." She put a hand to her chest, smiling gratefully.

"It looks absolutely gorgeous on you, dear!" Helen said, "Here, give me a spin!"

Konan rolled her eyes, blushing, and spun around once, letting the spaghetti-strapped dark blue dress swirl around her. It made a light ruffling noise as she twirled.

Helen clapped. "Ah, it so does go with your hair, especially with that flower in it. It looks better on you than it ever did on me!"

"I doubt it." Konan said, face red. She glanced towards the Living Room, "Thank you for letting my organization have the suits too. I have to say." she winked at Helen, "Pain looks rather snazzy in that white suit of yours."

"Well, my husband's old suits were just sitting there, unused. No point in letting them go to waste." Helen grinned, then stepped in closer to Konan, "Itachi doesn't look half bad either." Both of them began to snicker, gasped, then tried to remain straight-faced when said person walked back into the kitchen, garbed in his own new, black suit.

He looked at the both of them, their mouths twitching in an attempt to hide their smiles and eyes filled with mirth, in confusion. Other than a raised eyebrow, he didn't ask, but gave them a comically suspicious eye of question as he went to get the silverware for the tables downstairs. He kept looking over his shoulder as he left the kitchen, casting suspicious glances behind him as he went.

As soon as he was out of earshot, they both burst out laughing, leaving a rather confused Deidara staring up at the two women in bewilderment, having stopped his stirring to look at them. "What's so funny? Why are you laughing? Is it because of me? Are you laughing at me?! Is it something I did?" His confusion only made them laugh harder. He pouted, staring into the bowl, muttering to the batter inside, "Women."

.

.

.

"Lord Orochimaru?" Tayuya asked, hands clasped behind her back. She was wearing Rita's purple tank-top and black pants. Both of them were around the same size, so it fit, although Rita was a bit slimmer, so the pants were a little tight.

Orochimaru looked up from the Encyclopedia he was reading, "Yes?"

"Did you see where Rita went? I wanted to talk to her some but she disappeared." Tayuya glanced outside, but the only one out there was Gaara, lounging in the garden, making friends with a toad he'd found.

"I have no idea where she went, but she did go outside." Orochimaru replied, turning the page. He was learning much about this world using Helen's Encyclopedia set. Kabuto had finished the book he was reading before and moved onto a medical book, pouring over its pages with heavy interest, muttering in surprise at the cures they'd found for diseases he was still trying to figure out, including Kimimaru's.

.

.

.

"What's up, kiddo?"

Rita turned around, surprised, and saw Jiraiya and the Hokage behind her. Jiraiya, the one who'd spoken, was wearing a black, leather jacket over a clean, white shirt tucked into a pair of black suit pants. The Hokage was wearing a navy-blue t-shirt and old blue jeans. It was weird seeing him dressed so casually, and in JEANS.

"Eh, nothing much. Just taking a walk."

"Mind if we join you?" The Hokage asked, smiling. He was smoking his pipe, and pulled it out of his mouth to blow out smoke.

Rita shook her head, moving to give them space on the sidewalk beside her. The cuts on her face were still stinging, but due to Vanessa not being very strong, the bruises were light. "There's a lot of people in there."

"Isn't there?" The Hokage chuckled. "Taking a break?"

Rita nodded, pursing her lips, "I'm sorry for bringing you here." She stuffed her hands into her pockets, the action shifting the way she walked to a more hunched, protected stance. "I didn't even know it was possible."

"It's quite alright." The Hokage laughed. He put a hand fondly on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze, "According to Jiraiya, I'm dead, at least from the time you pulled him from."

"It's good seeing my Sensei again." Jiraiya chuckled, "So you could say this is a good thing. You certainly gave us a start, though. It's an adventure. I'll have something to write about now."

She laughed. "I'm kinda worried though. How are you all gonna get back?"

The Hokage shook his head, "I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with that glowing orb in your room. Nobody's touched it yet, but I think that's our ticket home. There isn't a big rush to get home, from what I can see. Everyone wants to figure out this place first."

"Everyone's in shock, but I think they kinda like it here." Rita looked up at the sky as they walked slowly along the sidewalk, listening to the cars rush by while a cool, gentle breeze pushed the warm air around and made the weather bearable.

"It's very peaceful." Jiraiya admitted. "We're not living in constant fear of being attacked."

"On this side of the world, at least." Rita interjected. "There's war overseas. It's pretty bad."

"Mmmmm." The Hokage sounded. "So, Rita, how old are you?"

"Me? I'm seventeen, almost eighteen." She kicked a stone on the sidewalk, kicking it again when she reached it once more.

"You look young for your age. Are most children in your world this small?"

Rita shook her head at the Hokage, "Naw. I was born as failure to thrive. It's not anything big, I'm just a bit more small and underweight than most people. I usually get tagged at twelve or fourteen."

Jiraiya grinned, "Must suck, huh?"

"Mom says I'll appreciate it when I get older." Rita rolled her eyes, "But for now, blech." she kicked the stone again, sticking her tongue out when it's unevenness caused it to ricochet in a weird direction and land in the road.

"Oh, you will." Jiraiya laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

The Hokage chuckled, giving Rita's hair a ruffle. She made a noise of protest, which only caused him to do it more. "You're alright, kid."

.

.

.

Dinner that night was great, but noisy. Sasuke had made sure he sat in a place where he didn't even have to look at Itachi, but everyone otherwise got along, save for Sasori and Orochimaru exchanging a few harsh words.

Tayuya kept throwing small stuff like grapes at Kimimaru because she could get away with it, and openly mocked him, no longer living in fear of his "I'll kill you" threats. She seemed to forget that she'd eventually have to return to her own world to suffer the consequences of her teasing.

"Tayuya, knock it off. You're being annoying." Jirobo crabbed between bites.

"Shut up, fatty!" Tayuya responded devilishly.

Jirobo growled, but was stopped from getting up by Orochimaru's hand grabbing ahold of the tope at his waist and roughly yanking him back down without even glancing in his subordinate's direction.

"Don't antagonize Jirobo, Tayuya." Kabuto sighed, taking a bite of food.

"What are you, my mother?" Tayuya teased.

"Heaven forbid."

"Hidan, stop hogging all the grapes!" Kakuzu growled, eyes narrowing.

"Ping!" Hidan said, bouncing one of the grapes off his partner's face. " #$! off, Kakuzu. I do what I want!"

Kakuzu didn't even blink when the fruit hit his face, but looked far less than amused. "Knock it off, stupid."

" #%! you, Kakuzu." He replied joyously. "Ping! Bulls-eye!" He hit Kakuzu square in the forehead with another grape.

Rita tried to contain her laughter, shrugging helplessly at her mother, who gave her a stern stare at finding humor in Hidan's bad language and table etiquette.

"Your cooking is delicious." Pain complimented Rita's mother, setting a bowl of corn back in the middle of the table.

"Why thank you." Helen said, blushing.

"I helped!" Deidara declared proudly, folding his arms.

"You stirred the batter for the cookies." Itachi took a bite of corn, finished, and then added, "And that's it." His tone was dead and unarguable.

Deidara spluttered, "Yeah, well, they're good, right?"

"I'm not eating anything you touched." Itachi replied simply.

"Shut your face, Itachi! My cookies were mixed to perfection." Deidara snapped. He took a bite of one, chewing angrily, "They taste amazing."

"Yes, they do, Deidara. Thank you." Helen laughed.

He closed his eyes, settling back in his seat with crossed legs, and gave everyone a smug grin. "Ha."

"Ping!" Hidan launched another frontal attack on Kakuzu.

Kakuzu slammed his hand down on the table, "Stop it, you child." He looked over to Pain, glaring, "I'm not getting paid enough for this. Can I kill him?"

"No violence in this house!" Helen ordered before Pain could even attempt to reply.

Kakuzu grumbled, crossing his arms.

Helen walked up behind Hidan and took the bowl of grapes away from him. "No throwing food either."

Hidan pouted.

"Sakura, look, I made a face with my food!" Naruto shouted, shoving the plate in her direction.

"That's so stupid, Naruto!" Sakura scoffed, "Right Sasuke?"

Sasuke was busy staring at the plate, "Who is that?"

"It's Sakura!" Naruto said, "Can't you tell?" He pointed to it, annoyed. "See?"

"Hn." Sasuke said, while Sakura stared in dismay at the plate when Sasuke didn't deny it.

"OI! So you ARE related!" Hidan yelled from across the table, raising an arm up like he was fixing to be called on in class, "Itachi's always 'hn'ing too!"

Sasuke snarled, fixing Hidan with a deadly glare.

Hidan blinked in surprise, lowering his arm, "Geez, brat. You have more of a temper though."

"Emo kid." Rita muttered.

* * *

Wheeee.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry that it's shorter than the rest! But it was either this or nothing. .

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"Alright, sleeping arrangements" Helen began, hands at her hips and she looked over all the people she had in her house. They'd all just finished dinner, and the sun was setting. Fitting them all had been a tight fit. Only this morning had she'd been aware of their presence. While Orochimaru and his posse had been the first to arrive in the night, they'd gone unnoticed and had remained stationed about the house. The rest of the ninjas had spent the night in random places all over town, waiting till dawn to move about. She couldn't just ask them all to leave.

"All the men are going to sleep down here. I can get together some blankets, and we'll try to make it comfortable." she instructed, taking charge. "The women will sleep up in the living room." she looked around, adding up the number of people, "Once we get these tables stacked against the wall, there should be a lot more room."

"Deidara." Konan said, beginning to stand.

"Whaaaaat?" He asked in annoyance, scowling.

"Help me take up the dishes." she began to pluck them off the table, carefully stacking them together.

He grumbled, but otherwise complied. Konan was partnered with Pain, their leader, and the two of them ran the Akatsuki as one. Pain gave the orders, and Konan enforced them.

Itachi lifted the table slowly, waiting for those seated to scramble out of the way as he brought the end of it down to rest where their legs had been. He carried to table over to the wall, propped it up, and started folding the legs in, reversing what he'd seen Rita's mom do earlier.

After everything was picked up, Helen began handing down blankets and sheets, covering the floor with them. "Who do we have?"

Rita looked up from where she sat on the stair, and started naming off all the men, "Pain, Itachi, Kisame, Deidara, Sasori, Kakuzu, Hidan, Orochimaru, Jirobo, Sakon and Ukon, Kimimaru, Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, Kiba, Shino, Asuma, Shikamaru, Gaara, Jiraiya, and the Hokage."

Helen counted each name as her daughter went, "W-ha...that...that's 22 men! How on earth did I fit all that in my house?"

"They're ninjas. Plus, save for dinner, we never actually got all of them in the same place at the same time." Rita muttered, resting her chin on the top of her hands as she used her knees to prop up her elbows, "Also, it's 21. Sakon and Ukon kinda count as one person."

Her mother wiped invisible sweat off her brow and heaved a sigh. She squeezed her eyes shut, "Alright, Ree, how many women?"

Rita's eyes scanned the room, "6."

Helen breathed a sigh of relied.

"Tayuya, Temari, Tsunade, Hinata, Sakura, and Konan."

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"Are you sure it's alright that I can use your pajamas?" Hinata asked anxiously, trailing behind Rita like a nervous puppy as they climbed down the stairs. She gripped the clothing in her hand so tightly that her knuckles where white.

Rita just grinned back at her, and jumped down to the floor, skipping a few steps. "I think we all should watch a movie before—oh, hello, Gaara. Why're you up here?"

The short redhead was standing there with his arms folded, appearing nonchalant, but a wavering frown etched into his features, "I don't trust them." he told her bluntly, blackened eyes narrowing. "I don't want to sleep down there with all of them."

Rita and Temari exchanged looks, and the elder sister of Gaara shrugged helplessly, "I couldn't convince him to stay down there. He wants to sleep up here."

"W-with the girls?" Hinata stuttered out.

Gaara closed his eyes, unmoving.

Rita pursed her lips for a second, running it through her head. Pre-shippuden Gaara was dangerous and unstable, but she doubted he'd waste the chakra to attack someone. He was probably saving it all for defense, if he was so worried. "Are you sure?"

He didn't move, just stood there like a statue, but he opened his eyes.

"Alright...Gaara. You can, I guess."

He gave a small nod and quietly moved to the Living Room, taking up residence in between the couch and the backyard patio door, sitting with his legs crossed.

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.

.

"Alright, so, movie-time. All of them are in this box here by the tv. We can all pick one and vote on it, but you can't vote for your own." Rita compromised. She reached in and pulled out Spirited Away, then scooched back and let the others come forward.

"I'm fine with whatever anyone wants to watch." Temari responded, holding her arms out, "Just don't pick something dumb, alright?"

"Gaara." Rita called out to him. He blinked. "You can pick too. C'mere."

He crawled over on all fours, stared into the box, and pulled one out, showing it to Rita. "This one." He still looked skittish, and as soon as her fingers grasped the movie, he withdrew his hand quickly and backed into his spot, where he'd basically cornered himself.

"Dracula? Okay." Rita chuckled, and put it on top of Spirited Away, where she'd placed it in the middle of the floor.

"I want this one! It looks SO romantic!" Sakura gushed, holding up Twilight.

A look of horror passed over Rita's face, and she made a mental note to throw that away when she got the chance. Why did they even have Twilight? "Uh, it's a bit...never mind." She put it down on the pile, blanching.

"That has vampires in it too." Gaara mused, catching sight of the back. He tilted his head, craning his neck forward to see.

"Sparkly, vegetarians ones." Rita muttered. "Without weaknesses."

He made a face. "I don't want that one."

She stuck her tongue out at it, shoving it farther away with her pointer finger like it was diseased, "You and me both, Gaara."

The edges of his lips twitched upwards, and he settled back, sitting on his legs, glad that he was in agreement with at least one person in the room.

"A romance?" Temari complained.

"If you don't like it, vote against it." Sakura responded, putting her nose in the air, and stuck her tongue out at the Sand ninja.

Temari scowled, and Hinata giggled.

"I want this one." Hinata whispered, holding up 'The Ultimate Gift'.

Tsunade humphed, grinned, and held one up, "How about this? American Pie!"

"Red Riding Hood for me!" Tayuya declared, picking out the adult version of the child's tale.

"Whispers of the Heart looks nice." Konan remarked.

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.

In the end, despite Gaara being outnumbered by a bunch of happy movies, Dracula was picked. Nobody from their world knew what a vampire was, save for Gaara, who'd gotten a general description from the back of 'Dracula's cover.

But, needless to say, they were terrified; but even more so when Tsunade started comparing Orochimaru to a vampire.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. XD

* * *

The complications started the next day, when Rita had gotten out into the large fenced-in "backyard" for first recess at their school. Most high-schools didn't have recess anymore, but theirs did. The Principal thought it would be senseless to put in a playground for teenagers, but the school board decided to do so anyway. It turned out to be the hangout for the bullies and punks.

Rita was glad to stretch her legs and get out into the sunshine. She headed straight for her favorite tree, and leapt up to catch hold of the first branch and pull herself up. She climbed a bit higher until she decided she was hidden well enough by the branches below her, safe from prying eyes on the ground. Rita leaned back against the trunk, drawing her knees to her chest, and sighed. There was a lot to think about.

"I'm pretty sure someone wrote a fanfiction about Naruto characters coming to the real world." Rita muttered, resting her chin atop her knee. "How am I going to send them all back there? Ah~ I wonder if everyone who came through is at my house..."

She sat there quietly, enjoying the sound of the wind rustling the leaves around her. Since she was higher up in the tree, the wind was stronger, and it made the hot sun more than bearable. The wind shining through the branches gave the atmosphere a lovely light-green tint.

"Lovely day, isn't it?"

The sudden voice startled her, and she yelped. Rita would have fallen out of the tree, pinwheeling her arms, if it hadn't been for a hand that grabbed a fistful of the back of her shirt and held her steady. Rita looked back at the speaker, "Kakashi?!"

He grinned, waving his free hand, "Hello~."

Rita put a hand to her chest to calm her beating heart, sighing, "You ninjas. Don't sneak up on me like that!"

He tilted his head, "But I was here for quite a while now."

Rita sighed again, then blinked in confusion. "Wait, why are you here?"

"Naruto wanted to see where you went and what your school was like." Kakashi said, "I had to accompany him to make sure he didn't get into any trouble."

A few leaves fell past Rita's face and she looked up to see Naruto in the branch above her.

"I'll bet I could take them all on!" Naruto boasted, using a hand pressed to his brow to shield his eyes from the sun and look out at all the students mulling about on the schoolyard.

"This is a school for learning, not fighting, you loser." Sasuke snapped from his place next to Kakashi, flashing Naruto a cross look.

Naruto growled at him, folding his arm, eye twitching. "I knew that!"

"No, you didn't." Sasuke sighed, "Idiot."

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, balling his hands into fists, and turned around on the branch he was perched on, looking ready for a fight.

Sasuke opened his mouth to respond, arms folded.

Rita put a hand up, "YO!"

They both stopped and looked at her.

"Sasuke, stop provoking Naruto. And Naruto, don't feed the troll. It only encourages him!"

"How am I the troll?" Sasuke demanded.

"HAHA! Rita called you a troll!" Naruto laughed, pointing at his teammate. "I'll bet she thinks you're ugly and smelly!"

Rita put a hand to her forehead for a moment, then rolled her eyes, "Not THAT kind of troll. Here, listen. Sasuke, you name-calling Naruto keeps ticking him off and gets him all angry. It'll only make him louder and the situation worse. And Naruto...ah...the troll I mean is what you call a person who intentionally messes with people to make them mad. If they get a reaction out of you, of any sort, they kind of win."

Naruto blinked once, then twice, then a third time. "Really?" He bit his knuckle, eyes wide, contemplating it. He grinned suddenly, and pointed at Sasuke, yelling, "I'm not gonna react to you anymore!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Naruto asked/yelled.

Rita face-palmed. "Naruto..."

"Oh." he withdrew, then folded his arms and pouted, looking away, "I, uh, mean... Psh. I don't care."

Kakashi and Rita shared a look. This nonchalant facade wasn't going to last long.

.

.

.

"Wooow! You have such pretty hair! How did you get it to look so perfectly even? The coloring is amazing!"

Sakura beamed, flipping her hair over her ear, "Well, y'know. I...uh...a professional did it."

"So cool! How come I've never seen you before?" The brown haired girl gushed.

"I'm new?"

"Where are you from?" The girl asked.

"...Wisconsin?" Sakura said, trying to pick a place from the map she'd seen at Rita's house.

"Sweet!" The girl grinned, "I'm Britney!"

"I'm Sakura."

Britney thought for a moment, "Like a Sakura blossom?"

"Yup!"

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.

.

"Sakura's fraternizing with the natives." Kakashi pointed out. "We need to go soon."

Rita looked down below, and saw Sakura by the benches, a few feet away from the door leading to outside. "I'll get her." She climbed down a few branches, and leapt from the tree, gracefully landing on one knee, knuckles pressed into the ground on either side of her, and rose to stand. "Hey, Sakura." She called out, walking over to the girl, who was admiring the praise she was getting. Sasuke followed suit, pacing himself so that he got to Sakura first.

"Now who's this?" Britney asked, fluttering her eyelashes at the solemn ninja, twirling a lock of hair around her finger.

"Oh, that's Sasuke." Sakura started, not liking the predatory look in the girl's eyes.

Britney jumped forward to meet Sasuke, "Sasuke! Hi! I love your hair! My name's Brit-"

"Sakura, we're going." Sasuke said dryly, completely ignoring the other girl. "Now."

Britney looked at them, "Are you guys..."

Sasuke and Sakura stared at her, Sakura's mouth open as she had been about to protest leaving.

"….y'know...together?" Britney finished, pouting.

"No." Sasuke said, brow furrowing in annoyance.

She looked happier, bouncing on her toes, "Oh, okay! Hey, how old are you?"

"SASUKE! We need to leave! Kakashi sensei said so!" Naruto demanded, coming up from behind Britney, who was starting to get a little frustrated that she was being over-talked.

But, as soon as she turned around and saw Naruto, her grin reappeared, and she adjusted her little pink t-shirt so that it slightly showed her stomach, tugging up her jeans a bit. "Hey cutie, what's your name?"

Naruto stared at her in confusion, "Cute? I'm a ninja!"

Britney started giggling, "You're so funny!" She turned and waved at Vanessa, who was coming over to see who she was talking to.

Naruto was about to argue with her, even more bewildered, when Rita poked his shoulder, "Guys, really." She whispered, "You can't be here if you're not a student."

Vanessa spotted Rita, "Oh, it's /her/." She sneered, rubbing the medical tape on her nose, it being broken courtesy of Rita.

"Vanessa! What happened?" Britney asked, seeing the other girl's black and blue face. She cupped her hands over her mouth in horror.

"Rita happened." Vanessa growled. "She just snapped and beat me up."

Rita, holding in her temper, hunched her shoulders and give the other girl a glare. She flipped her hoodie's black hood over her head, and walked away, shoving her arms into her pockets, pacing in an oval by the tree she'd been hiding in.

Britney turned back to Naruto, "Do you KNOW that freak?" She questioned.

Naruto, stunned at the name she used to refer to Rita, stuttered, "What?"

Sakura glared, "Rita's not a freak!" she exclaimed, clenching her fists at her sides, "How could you say that?!"

Sasuke watched Sakura and Britney give each other the stare down of death, making the connection. "Ah." he started, turning his attention to Vanessa, "You're /that/ girl."

Vanessa looked over at him, forcing a smile, "Um, what?" She tried to appear cute, liking the look of him. Little did she know, Sasuke had no interest in a relationship.

"You're the girl who bullied Rita and insulted her father." He said bluntly, hooking his fingers in the belt-loops of his pants, and staring coldly at her.

"What?! But she deserved it!" Vanessa said, trying to appear innocent, a whiny shrill in her tone.

"Do tell." Sasuke responded, eyes narrowing.

"W...well... She's always so weird and distant! Always is wearing black, and lingering in the shadows, like she's planning something! She's just so dark...and cross...and..." Vanessa argued, "Just look at her! She has outcast written all over her!"

"The only reason why she's like an outcast is cuz dummies like you made her that way!" Naruto yelled, sticking a pointed finger in Vanessa's face, who curled up her lip in disgust,

"Get your hand out of my face!"

"Make me!" Naruto yelled stubbornly. "Rita's nice! She's just quiet!"

"She's a loner!" Vanessa spat, "And a freak. You can tell just by looking that she's just a murderer waiting to happen!"

"Just because she wears a black jacket and keeps to herself?" Sasuke questioned.

Vanessa stuck her hands on her hips, "You just don't understand." she sighed. "And look what she did to me!"

"You deserved it!" Naruto snapped. "You said mean things to her and bullied her! If anyone's the freak, it's YOU, you idiot!"

.

.

.

Rita watched the whole scene play out from a distance, stunned.

"Hey, Ree, what's going on?" a voice asked, and Rita saw Kyra and Raika coming over.

"RITA'S NICE. YOU'RE THE JERK!" Naruto yelled loudly.

"Whoa! Is this a fight?" Kyra asked, eyes wide, "Over Rita?"

"Kyra." Raika warned.

"I gotta get me in this!" Kyra yelled, and rushed off, Raika ignored.

.

.

.

"Vanessa!" Kyra yelled, pushing past kids to get into the middle of it, "How dare you bully Rita!" Now Vanessa had two pointing fingers in her face. "Stop spewing lies!"

"Yeah!" Naruto agreed.

"And stop being mean to Rita!" she continued.

"YEAH!" he shouted.

Vanessa spluttered, very outnumbered.

"You guys." Came another voice, and everyone looked up. Kakashi stood there, waving a little bit, "I, uh, don't know if you noticed, but we seem to be drawing a bit of a crowd. We need to go." He tugged on Naruto's arm, who whined that he wanted to stay.

Sakura, face red with anger, followed Kakashi.

Sasuke started, then stopped, and looked back at the two girls, "Hey. Y'know. You should really not judge people by what you see. Bullying? That's just pathetic. So what if Rita dresses in black or keeps quiet? Ever thought that maybe she keeps to herself because she doesn't want to get hurt and involve herself with people like you? You torture her, and leave her almost friendless. What kind of a monster are you? You think you can call her names when you're the jerk everyone should be avoiding?"

Vanessa blinked.

"I don't know WHAT is causing you to do this, but it's not ok. I don't care what your home-life is like if you're just gonna treat people like trash. There's no excuse. If you have a problem, spit it out. Otherwise, don't take out your misdirected rage on people who are suffering just as much as you are."

Gawking, the girl stuttered in shock.

"If chivalry didn't exist, I would slap you." Sasuke finished. And with that, he left her in the dust of his words.

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.

.

Rita sat in class, still stunned, and stared blankly ahead at the blackboard. This was her last class before the day was out, and she was still replaying the events of before in her mind. SASUKE had stood up for her. What the heck? She propped her chin on her hand, and stared out of the window. 'Wait a second...is that Itachi waving?!' She jumped up, making her teacher squeak in surprise, "Um, ah, sorry! I don't feel so good! I need to go home!"

Mrs. Rachel stuttered at the sudden interrupted, but nodded, and Rita rushed out the door.

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.

.

"Itachi?" Rita was breathless from hurrying outside, hands resting on her knees as she fought to breathe.

"We've got a bit of a problem." Itachi said, hands in his jean pockets. He'd traded the suit's pants for jeans, but still wore the suit top.

Rita gulped in one last big breath, and glanced questioningly at him. "What?"

"That glowing light in your room. It's gone."

"What?!"

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Sorry if it seems a little helter-skelter, today is a bit of a confuzzled off day for me. XD


	8. Chapter 8

I'm sorry it took so long. I was busy. O-O

Naruto and its characters belong to Naruto/Kishimoto.

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"This is a bit of a predicament." Itachi mused, hand drawn up to pinch his chin in thought, staring at the area where the orb had been before.

"It's a disaster now." Pain added, "That was our way home."

Rita frowned, "What happened? Why's it gone?"

"Dunno. Stupid thing just whizzed off in a random direction all of a sudden. Almost hit me." Deidara cut in, earning himself cross looks from both Pain and Itachi, popping his head in between their shoulders while looking from side to side to each of them.

Rita pursed her lips, frowning, and pressed her hands flat together, the tips of her fingers just covering her mouth in anxious concentration. "This isn't good. Not only did we not know how to use the orb, but now we can't even find it."

"Oh, Ree." Helen squeezed her daughter's shoulders, distraught.

"It's not me who should be getting any sympathy." Rita looked back to the people, forlorn, as they gazed in confusion and dismay at the empty spot, air still radiating with afterglow of the orb.

Pain sighed, turning away from the area, "Akatsuki, follow me. We'll search for the orb outside of the city. Everyone else, move quickly and search for it inside. The longer we wait, the harder it is to sense its power."

"I wonder where it went." Sakura murmured, "Oh, Sasuke. Where do you think it is?"

Sasuke slowly shifted his gaze to stare at her incredulously from the corner of his eye. "How should I know?" He snapped. "I didn't see it fly off." And with that, he left the bedroom, stalking down the stairs.

"Sasuke!" Sakura rushed after him, Ino on her heels, berating the pinkette for asking Sasuke stupid questions.

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Rita sat silently on the couch, watching as the occupants in the room steadily got smaller as everyone began to migrate outside and search for their only way home, which had literally flown out the window.

Jiraiya gave her a reassuring pat on the head, which recieved a have glum, half annoyed stare from its recipient. He chuckled as she smoothed out the hair on the top of her head. "We'll find it, kiddo. A big, pulsing sphere of energy can't be that hard to find."

Rita, who knew quite more about the size of earth and the massive population of its cities more than the Sannin, rose her eyebrows at him, "You'd be surprised."

"We can still sense it." He nodded at her, "All is not lost." He turned towards the door, pulling it open, and glanced back. The only one left in the room was Kabuto, who was attempting to figure out how to use the internet on the computer. "No funny business, four-eyes. She'd better be in one piece when we return."

Kabuto smiled innocently, his character grin that always obviously hid malice behind it, and gave the man a small wave. "Wouldn't dream of it." He responded flippantly, taking on a sardonic tone, to which Jiraiya squinted at.

"I mean it, you."

Kabuto gave him a look, "There would be no point to harming her. The consequences would probably only be negative."

"Yeah." Rita muttered, "Like your face."

"Huh?" Kabuto turned to her, clearly not quite catching the insult.

Rita muttered her next works quickly, so that they blended together and came out nearly indiscernible. "Stupidsayswhat?"

"What?" He looked at her in confusion.

Rita chuckled darkly, getting up from the couch to head into the kitchen, passing by the bewildered medic as he stared up at her in hopes she repeat her words more slowly, but she did no such thing.

Kabuto looked to Jiraiya, who was almost dying with silent laughter in the doorway. "What'd she say?"

The Sannin fought to regain his composure, gripping the frame, "Keep on eye on that one." He forced out, "She's dangerous."

Kabuto blinked, furrowed his brow, and wandered off to find Rita, "Hey, what'd you say?" He demanded.

Rita's voice echoed out from the kitchen innocently, "Nothing. Nothing a'tall."

"Liar." Kabuto complained.

Jiraiya laughed, and closed the door, speeding off into the afternoon sun.

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"Aren't you too old and dignified to pout?" Rita remarked, giving Kabuto a skeptical raise of her eyebrow. She grabbed a can of ravioli from the cupboard and headed to the stove, which Kabuto was leaning half on.

"I'm **not** _pouting_." He muttered, arms folded as he looked down at her. "Just tell me what you said,"

Rita sighed, rolling her eyes, and started shaking the can, trying to make the ravioli come out into the pan. It refused to slide out, and she bit her bottom lip, glaring, and shook harder. "I SAID. 'Stupid. Says. What.' "

He blinked in surprise, then smiled meekly in realization as his shoulders sank in defeat. He sighed, nodding his head with pursed lips and a laugh, "And I said 'what', didn't I?"

"Yes, yes you did." Rita used both hands to shake the can this time, "Dagnabbit, come out!"

Kabuto reached over, rolling his eyes, and gave the back of the can a good smack. The ravioli fell into the pan with a splat, and a bit of the sauce splashed onto Rita's face, who closed her eyes in reflex when she saw it fly. "Sorry." He offered sheepishly.

Wiping the small spot off her cheek with her thumb, she turned to him, holding up the can. "Apology not accepted." But she didn't look mad, just playful.

He raised his eyebrows, "Y'know something, shorty? You're mean!" He laughed.

Rita raised her eyebrows in return. Poking him, she began, "Pot." Then pointed to herself, "Meet kettle."*

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"Found any sign of it yet?" Pain questioned Itachi, who had just caught up with him and Konan. He leapt down to the ground from the rooftop, making sure no civilians had seen him, and turned to the Uchiha. Konan looked up at the sky, seeing Hidan whiz with Kakuzu overhead.

"Not yet, and the orb feels farther than ever, but it's still there." Itachi admitted, glancing to the side. He tugged at his cloak, reaching inside to grab for something inside the pocket of his suit, "But I found this." He held out a specially made kunai. "It isn't any of ours. In fact, it looks pretty old. We don't use this materiel anymore to make weapons."

"But who would be carrying around an old weapon like that?" Konan questioned.

"I don't know." Pain said, "But it doesn't bode well."

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* If no one understands the "pot meet kettle" thing like I've had to explain to others. It means "The pot calling the kettle black" as in "You're one to talk."

It's basically a mean person calling another person mean. And since they're mean, they kinda don't have the right to be pointing fingers.

You might think me stupid for explaining it, but believe me, it's necessary.


End file.
